2of 2Mike & Mary Porter of Doss have given $1 million to the re-election campaign of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and another $500,000 to a political committee linked to Abbott.Photo: Photo courtesy of the Porters / Photo courtesy of the Porters

DOSS — For a publicity-shy couple who live in this tiny ranching community, population 225, Mike and Mary Porter are causing a stir in Texas politics.

Over the past year, they’ve given a total of $1.5 million to Gov. Greg Abbott’s re-election campaign and to a political action committee bent on protecting Republican philosophy in drawing legislative and congressional districts. And they tossed in $70,000 to an unsuccessful legislative candidate in their home district in the hill country west of Austin.

The Porters, however, are not fond of the limelight. Mary Porter hung up on a reporter seeking an interview. And veteran political operatives and fundraisers say they haven’t even met the Porters and have no clue about why they suddenly have emerged as a financial force in Texas politics.

Others have theorized that the Porters, who lived in California before finding a home in a rural valley far from the closest big city, may have found common ground with Abbott, a conservative who has often contrasted Texas’ approach to governing with the Golden State’s.

Former state Rep. Doug Miller, a New Braunfels Republican whose campaign received $50,000 from Mike Porter two years ago, said the reason for the couple’s burst of political activity may be simple, albeit shrouded in their pursuit of privacy. Miller said he had gotten calls from other political operatives wondering whether the Porters would start spreading their money more widely.

“I think he’s just a guy who has got concerns and is conservative, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t fall prey to some of the people who would exploit somebody who lives in Doss, Texas,” Miller said. “I’m not saying that he is naïve, but maybe a little bit of naivete on political matters. He is kind of a private person.”

Yet a $1 million contribution to a governor’s campaign, taking advantage of Texas’ permissive campaign-finance laws, will attract attention. And Mike Porter pumped another $500,000 into a super PAC called #ProjectRedTX, led by a former Abbott campaign manager, that was created to repel challenges to Texas Republicans’ redistricting efforts.

If it’s not clear what’s driving the Porters, there’s some indication of the source of at least some of their wealth. Mary Porter is the daughter of Frank Batten, a Virginia media magnate who founded the Weather Channel and sold it a decade ago for billions. Porter is a California native who owned general and electrical contracting firms and started acquiring land in Gillespie County in 2004.

When the couple wrote the big check to Abbott’s campaign last year, Mike Porter told the Houston Chronicle: “We believe Gov. Abbott has put forward a vision to keep Texas exceptional and we want to do our part in supporting what he’s doing. That’s all there was to it.”

The Porters have continued to spend lavishly on political causes and candidates. But unlike last year, the couple isn’t publicly discussing the reasons for their contributions, or anything else.

In response to an interview request from the Houston Chronicle, Mary Porter said: “We’re not interested. We are not interested. We know you contacted us several times and some of our friends and we are definitely not interested.” Then she hung up.

Land, and a restaurant

Mary Porter, 57, is the daughter of Frank Batten Sr., who was chairman of Virginia-based Landmark Communications. At the time of his death in 2009, Landmark owned nine daily newspapers, televisions stations in Las Vegas and Nashville, more than 50 weekly newspapers and a national chain of classified advertising publications, according to his obituary in The New York Times.

Toward the end of his life, Batten was best known as the founder of the Weather Channel, which debuted in 1982. In 2008, Landmark sold it to NBC Universal and two private equity firms for nearly $3.5 billion.

Batten and his wife, Jane, had three children — a son and two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Dorothy.

Michael Porter, 70, was born southwest of Los Angeles. According to California business filings, Porter registered several companies, including the Red Butte Corp., Jayport Electric, Inc., and Wespac Electric with addresses in Los Angeles County, and Landco Management Corp. in San Diego County. A 2009 business record listed Landco as a general contractor.

Mike Porter began to buy land in Gillespie County in 2004 under a trust, according to property records. In addition to their Cross Creek Ranch in Doss, the Porters own a house in nearby Fredericksburg.

He sued the Doss school district in 2013, accusing it of withholding public records in the acquisition of a house and land adjacent to the school that he said cost the district too much. The district said Porter had tried to buy the same property. He dropped the lawsuit eight months after filing it.

That year, Mike Porter also was the target of a lawsuit. Matthew Cavin, the executive chef of the restaurant in the Doss Country Store that Porter owned, sued him, alleging that Porter violated his employment contract when Porter fired him “without cause.” Porter rejected the allegation.

Cavin said he had warned the couple that the restaurant would lose money, but Cavin said Mary Porter enjoyed eating and entertaining at a restaurant outside Fredericksburg and wanted one.

“The Porters wanted a restaurant with the acclaim of the Hilltop Cafe,” according to court records filed by Cavin’s Austin attorney, Jim Guleke. “The Porters told Cavin that they did not care whether the restaurant to be opened in the Doss Country Store made money. They just wanted to have a restaurant there.”

Guleke deposed Mike and Mary Porter separately in 2014. Cavin said as part of the lawsuit’s out-of-court settlement, he agreed not to release copies of the depositions. The store and restaurant have closed.

Discussion over a Coors

The Porters made their first campaign contribution in Texas in 2014, when the couple made one and Mike Porter made another to Abbott’s successful gubernatorial campaign. The two contributions totaled $5,000.

The following year, Porter gave $50,000 to Miller, the Republican House member who represented three counties, including Gillespie. Miller lost in a GOP runoff to a tea party favorite, Kyle Biedermann.

Miller said Porter told him he asked his Doss neighbors whom he should support and they said Miller. One of the Porters’ neighbors is a relative of Miller’s wife, whose descendants helped found Doss in the mid-1850s.

“He and I had a conversation on the back of one of his pickups over a Coors beer and I guess he decided he liked me because he made a nice contribution to my campaign,” Miller said.

John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott’s campaign, said the Porters’ generosity extends well beyond politics.

“They play a pivotal role in their community where they provide scholarships to children, are heavily engaged in building the new fire station in Doss, are staunch supporters of the Wounded Warrior Group, Combat Marine Outdoors, and so much more,” Wittman said in a written statement. “The Governor is grateful not only for the (Porters’) financial support of his campaign, but also their support for Texas values that have made the Lone Star State the freest and most prosperous state in the nation.”

The Porters contributed $50,000 last December to David L. Campbell, a former Fredericksburg school board member who challenged Biedermann in the GOP primary. They followed that up with $20,000 last month to Campbell’s campaign. Biedermann defeated Campbell in the primary. Biedermann and Campbell could not be reached for comment.

Other Republicans — including state party chairman James Dickey, Gillespie County GOP Chairman Dalton Fromme, and Allen Blakemore, a campaign consultant for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — said they didn’t know the Porters.

In November and December of last year, Mike Porter made two contributions totaling $500,000 to #ProjectRedTX. When the PAC disclosed contributions and expenditures earlier this year to the Federal Election Commission, Porter was the sole donor.

The PAC’s website states: “Low taxes, positive business climate, and a predictable regulatory process have paved the way for those wanting a freer way of participating in free enterprise…Texans are welcoming people. Our neighbors that move here from out of state laud their newfound freedom. We cannot sit by and take it for granted.”

James Drew is an investigative reporter in the Austin Bureau of the Houston Chronicle. He has won several awards, including best investigative report award for 2012 from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors for reporting on irregularities in how Texas' cancer-fighting agency awarded grants. As Statehouse Bureau Chief for The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade, he and a colleague broke Ohio’s “Coingate” scandal, which was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for public service. He is a graduate of Indiana University, with degrees in journalism and political science.